GEF India to invest Rs 375 cr in edible oils refinery in Hyderabad

Hyderabad: Gemini Edibles & Fats India Limited (GEF India) plans to invest Rs 375 crore in setting up a greenfield edible oils refinery with a 700 tonnes per day (TPD) capacity in Telangana. The company also plans to create capacities for processing spices and manufacturing ready-to-eat (RTE) food mixes at the facility in the second phase."We acquired 33 acres of land from TGIIC at the Siddapur Industrial Park at Shamshabad in 2023 and are awaiting the development of basic infrastructure in the park," GEF India managing director Pradeep Chowdhry told TOI. Chowdhry said the proposed capacity includes 400 TPD of sunflower oil refining and another 300 TPD capacity for rice bran oil and palm oil refining, including 50% through local sourcing and the rest with imported oils.The proposed plant, which will have capacity for sunflower seed crushing, solvent extraction, and refining, will also make cold-pressed oils.GEF India group vice president Akshay Chowdhry said the company will invest another Rs 75 crore in the second phase to set up spices processing and RTE mixes capacities at the plant. "We expect to start the second phase of the project in 2027 after the completion of the first phase. We will set up a 500 tonnes per month capacity which will be eventually scalable to 1,000 TPM," he added.GEF India recently acquired Coimbatore-based ‘Annapoorna' brand through a newly formed subsidiary GEF Foods India Pvt Ltd.The Rs 11,000 crore GEF India has a total refining capacity of 3,000 TPD across three units in Andhra Pradesh, including two in Kakinada and one in Krishnapatnam.